A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sanitary cover for a telephone mouthpiece or earpiece and a method of making a sanitary cover, and more particularly, to a telephone cover that is securely mountable on a standard telephone earpiece or mouthpiece and will retain a desired shape during use.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Sanitary covers for telephone mouthpieces and earpieces have existed since not long after the invention of the telephone. Given the increasing risk of infection from various highly contagious diseases and viruses existing today, the need for an effective sanitary telephone mouthpiece cover to prevent the spread of these diseases and viruses is even greater. Although many telephone mouthpiece covers have been produced in the past, these covers do not retain a desired shape and do not remain in position on the telephone mouthpiece or earpiece to enable a telephone user to use the telephone without worrying about whether the sanitary cover will fall off of the telephone.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,063 teaches a sanitary telephone cover comprising disposable sheets for covering the sound transmitting members of a telephone. The telephone cover is formed of a plurality of layers of material which are mechanically bonded together, for example, by using an adhesive. The inventors of this cover realized that sanitary telephone covers frequently do not remain in position on the telephone during use. Accordingly, the '063 device is provided with adhesive on two tabs 22, 29 which are folded to surround the sound transmitting members of the telephone. The adhesive applied to the tabs 22, 29 holds the sanitary cover on the sound transmitting portions of the telephone. However, the use of adhesive increases the steps and cost of manufacturing the sanitary telephone cover. The use of adhesive on the tabs also prevents the sanitary covers from being stacked one upon another because the adhesive would cause all of the covers to adhere together and prevent removal of one of the covers from the stack.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,163 also discloses a telephone mouthpiece cover which is formed from a single piece of paper board. The cover has a skirt 12 and a top 14 for covering the telephone mouthpiece. The cover is formed with ribs 44 which add structural integrity to the skirt 12 and also facilitate attachment of the cover on the mouthpiece by providing a gripping action. However, as seen in FIG. 3, none of the ribs 44 actually grip the telephone mouthpiece to securely hold the cover on the telephone. Thus, the ribs do not provide an adequate holding mechanism for affixing the cover on the telephone mouthpiece. In fact, the ribs force the surface of the skirt portion away from the surface of the telephone mouthpiece such that the only points of contact between the skirt and the telephone mouthpiece are the ribs 44. Thus, the ribs 44 decrease the contact area between the skirt and the telephone mouthpiece thereby decreasing the retaining ability of the skirt on the mouthpiece.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,493,557 discloses a sanitary telephone cover formed of paper or fabric having a central portion 8 and an outer skirt portion 8a which forms a resilient holding means for holding the cover on the telephone mouthpiece. The holding portion 8a is creased along a plurality of pairs of lines indicated by numeral 9 wherein each of the pairs of lines 9b, 9c etc. intersect corresponding corners 8b, 8c, respectively, of the central portion 8. The skirt 8a has resilient overlapping portions formed therein which form the holding means for holding the shield on the mouthpiece. However, the holding means for this cover is merely created by folds in the skirt portion which often do not provide adequate holding pressure. Also, the skirt portion may lose its resiliency and shape which would cause the skirt to be unable to hold the cover on the telephone mouthpiece.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,400,334 teaches a telephone mouthpiece cover which includes two sections 7 and 8. The first section 7 is conical and fits inside of the telephone mouthpiece. The second portion 8 is a flat outer covering which includes an edge portion 11 folded inwardly and crimped to engage the edges of the telephone mouthpiece. However, the outer edges 11 are merely folded about the edge of the telephone mouthpiece and can easily be dislodged because there is nothing to hold the outer edges 11 onto the telephone mouthpiece. Also, the cover requires that the first conical section 7 be positioned inside of the telephone mouthpiece to prevent the telephone mouthpiece cover from being dislodged from the telephone mouthpiece.